Caged Bird
by Irhaboggles
Summary: As a child, Galinda never understood the story of the Caged Bird. Why would a bird, owned by a king, be so unhappy and unwilling to sing? Why would she choose to abandon him and risk living a life alone, with only an empty sky for company? Fast forward a couple decades, and the story's message would finally become all too clear...


Little Galinda returned home from school with confusion swirling around in her brain. In class, she'd read a story about a bird. That bird had the most magical, beautiful voice in all the land. It had been so enchanting, in fact, that the bird had been taken by a king to live with him in his castle and sing for him every day. Despite receiving a luxurious new home, however, the bird grew very sad and no longer sang at all. The king kept her at his side, pampering her with everything she could've ever wanted, and yet, the bird remained sad and silent. But then one day, the bird managed to escape the king. She did not hesitate to fly as far away from him as fast as she could, and she didn't even look back, not even once.

"Momsie, Popsicle?" Galinda called out as she got home.

"Yes darling?" both of Galinda's parents replied as they heard her walk through the door.

"I have a question!" she said.

"What is it?" they asked as she finally stepped into view. She placed the little book about the songbird down in front of them.

"I don't get it," she said. "Why did the bird not want to sing for the king? Why did she fly away from him and back to that dirty old forest?" while Galinda continued to ask, her parents skimmed the text. They, too, were baffled by it. They had both read it themselves when they were in school (it was a classic story, after all, so of course they would've read it), but as they could recall, they hadn't understood it any better than Galinda did now.

"I think the author just wrote it that way to confuse people," Highmuster bluffed since he had no better answer to give up.

"But that's dumb! That bird was lucky to be loved by a king!" little Galinda protested. "Why would the author have it make no sense?"

"Maybe the author thought it was be more complex that way?" Highmuster tried again.

"Or maybe, it actually makes perfect sense!" Larena remarked.

"What?" both her husband and daughter looked to her with a confused expression. "Well!" she declared, picking up the little book again. "Doesn't it say here that, after that bird fled the king, she was forced to fly back into a barren, endless, unforgiving sky?"

"It did," Galinda agreed as her mother flipped to the last page of the book.

"Well then maybe that's just it!" Larena continued. "Maybe this story was always a cautionary tale that those who choose to defy the king and ignore the gifts they are given will be forced to be content with nothing at all! Don't you see? The bird rejected the king, now she must fly alone forever in an endless and unforgiving sky!"

And that answer had been so clever that both Galinda and Highmuster accepted it once, and neither of them ever questioned the story of the Caged Bird ever again. Instead, Galinda took it upon herself to rewrite the story. In her version, the bird and the king became best friends, and the bird never left the king and lived every day on his throne, making merry music for him, and then they all lived happily ever after, the end.

From then on, Galinda tried to live her life like the bird in her rewritten version of the story. She made it her primary goal to be as popular and powerful as possible. She wanted to be just as talented and coveted as the songbird! Then maybe one day, she'd be swept up by a king as well. But unlike the bird in the original story, Galinda would not be ungrateful. For many years, this goal worked out perfectly for Galinda. Then along came one Elphaba Thropp. From the start, she and Galinda had struck up a rivalry. Elphaba was mean to her all the time, constantly being rude and snobby and nasty and ugly and just generally unpleasant to be around. Galinda was certain Elphaba was only jealous because Galinda was so much prettier than she was! But then things took a very sharp twist and, though a prank and an apology, Galinda and Elphaba actually wound up becoming friends. Against all odds and expectations, the two of them became _best _friends.

But barely a year later, the two girls were forced to end that friendship. Why? Well, Elphaba had taken Galinda, renamed Glinda, to the Emerald City and, while there, Elphaba ended up getting in trouble with the wonderful Wizard of Oz himself who was, in essence, the king of Oz. He had been the very man Glinda had wanted to please, but then Elphaba went and messed it all up. In doing so, she was forced to flee the palace at once, having been branded as an enemy of the state. She enchanted a broomstick to fly, and then made her daring escape. She had asked Glinda to join, but the little blond was far too scared of such an idea to agree. Instead, she turned away in fear while Elphaba flew as far away from the Wizard as fast as she could, and she didn't even look back, not even once.

Over the course of the rest of her life, Glinda grew in power, popularity... and misery. At long last, she truly understood the Caged Bird. She understood that, despite the bird's pampered life, she was loved only for her voice. Just like how Glinda was only a pretty face for the Wizard to exploit to the mindless masses, so too was that Caged Bird little more than petty entertainment to a cruel, selfish king who cared only for what she could do for him, and not who she was as an individual. And just like the songbird in the story, Glinda was trapped, with no way out.

But then, after spending enough time stuck in a cage singing for a king that she despised, this new songbird managed to escape her chains as well. Glinda finally decided that she had sung enough, she had served enough, and she was now going to follow in the footsteps of her feathery predecessor. She was going to fly away, as far and as fast as she could. And no, she was not going to look back, not even once. So when the time finally came for Glinda to take flight, she took the chance without a single regret or hesitation. As soon as her cage door swung open, she flew right on out. She felt no loyalty to the Wizard, so why would she stay by him? The bird did not stay for the king, Glinda would not stay for the Wizard.

But this was where their stories diverged. While the bird had taken to the sky, Glinda was cast deep underground. Having finally grown tired of the Wizard and his wickedness, Glinda had taken a stand against him. She barely lasted a week before being sent to prison for treason against her country. She was locked away in that nightmarish underground jail known as Southstairs. But she had gone to that place willingly, the same way her Caged Bird had flown bravely into the barren sky. Just as long as it was away from the king, she hadn't cared where she would go.

"Are you guilty? Did you work against the Wizard? Do you work for the Wicked Witch?" the judge had snapped at her during her trial.

"Yes," Glinda replied unrepentantly.

"Why do you confess?" the judge demanded as Glinda was chained and led away.

"Because I'm tired of being the Wizard's slave," she hissed. But before anybody could ask her how she dared speak against the benevolent Wizard like that, she turned away and vanished into the nightmarish pit she would call home for the rest of her life.

Glinda sat alone in her tiny, dark, dank cell. A heavy chain was tied around her ankle so that she would have freedom enough to move around her cell, but she would never be able to try and make a run for freedom. Glinda, however, had no intention of ever trying to run. As far as she was concerned, she was already free. Like the Caged Bird, she understood that freedom would always trump a gilded cage. Glinda finally understood the bird wasn't just flying to a barren and deadly sky, but to freedom. For the bird, it was better to be dead than a slave, and Glinda finally understood such rationale. Despite the chain around her ankle, she had never felt freer or lighter. No more hiding, no more lying. Just empty-faced truth. She was finally able to live as she so desired, even though her life was now confined to a tiny old cell. Like the Caged Bird returning to an empty, treacherous, friendless sky, Glinda was free. Now, it was time to see what her wings really looked like...

**AN: Glinda-centric comparison to the Caged Bird because my metaphors are not original, LOL. But I still hope everyone enjoyed this, cliché as it was.**


End file.
